Announcement by the Acting Chairman

ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE ACTING CHAIRMAN -- (House of Representatives - April 06, 2006)

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Mr. GARRETT of New Jersey. Mr. Chairman, I thank the chairman of the Budget Committee, and I come to the floor today to speak to a very important issue, and that is the issue of port security.

I have been listening to the debate, and much of the debate is on the positive impacts that this budget will have on the economy and on the family budget, which is where the focus should always be in our lives here and not so much on the Federal budget. The positive impact that this budget will mean is it will have more money in the family budget, more money that the families have to decide where they want to spend it, as opposed to where Washington wants to spend it.

But let me suggest, as secure as a family can be in their economic situation, that truly is of no moment if they are not secure at home and in their business from a physical point of view, if we do not have strong homeland security in all that we do, if economic security does not rise to that merit of importance. That is why I support what we have done in this House and in this Chamber and in this conference and in this budget with regard to homeland security and with regard to border security as well.

When it comes to the overall perspective of homeland security, look at what we are doing in this budget. While other aspects maybe have been frozen, as far as spending on homeland security, we are seeing a 3.8 percent increase in spending; and that is as it should be because we are setting the priority in the right manner.

Now, I do represent the Fifth Congressional District of the State of New Jersey, the nice part of New Jersey, the very top of it, from river to river, from the Hudson River to the Delaware River. My district is one that lives in the shadows of the Twin Towers and 9/11. Mine is a district that overlooks the Hudson River. Mine is a district that overlooks that river with two significant ports, Port of Newark and Port of Elizabeth.

So anything that occurs with regard to homeland security is of paramount interest to my security. Anything that occurs with regard to our ports obviously is of paramount interest in my district as well, whether it is the fact that the people in my district work at those ports or that the containers come through our district. What happens there is important.

What happens overall to our security is important in my district. What happens overall to security of our borders is important, but the ports are the gateway into this country; and for that reason, we have to do everything we can to make sure they are secure. This budget does do that.

As I say, a 3.8 percent increase in homeland security, plus specifically on ports, we are seeing the Container Port Security program, that is the CPS program, has grown from $61 million in fiscal year 2004 to $137 million in fiscal year 2006.

What does that mean? That means an average annual increase of 49.9 percent, almost a 50 percent annual increase, in port security, appropriately setting where the priorities should be.

Really, Mr. Chairman, that comes down to what we are talking about here. What this budget does do is set priorities. It sets priorities in what is important, economic security, homeland security; and I congratulate the chairman for setting the appropriate points.

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